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Hey!

I'm Gen Putter, postpartum doula, coach, content creator, writer and mother. My journey into motherhood was not an easy one, it was an unmooring that made me question everything i knew about myself and the world around me.

I think it’s important to give context into how I got here, which, ironically was a journey that very much started in my academia days. It’s not just a journey that started when I crossed over the threshold into motherhood, although it was the massive leap which prompted me to land where I currently am, constantly questioning and trying to understanding the shifting landscape of motherhood.

My interests in identity politics and construction as well as the influence of popular culture and media on these, were what led me to complete a master's in Public Culture and Media in my mid-twenties. My final year thesis was a deep dive into the power of popular media and how they play a part in the intimate and often unconscious process of identity construction. I eventually landed up working as a writer and journalist in a permanent and freelance capacity.  

Fast forward 10 years later, at the age of 35, I was a new mom who was struggling with the loss and grief of all of this. It was also a time where the new kid on the block, social media was pervading our everyday lives. The desperation of trying to reconcile this new role within my already established identity and the onslaught of messages coming from our screens, totally overwhelmed me. Feelings of failure, of being unfit and unworthy because I did not take to it easily like I was led to believe, that it was a natural progression for everyone who births a child, affected my mental health profoundly. 

I hit burnout at 4 months postpartum and plummeted deep into postpartum depression and anxiety. I felt totally blindsided because at the time the narrative around PND was that it wasn’t that common, that only 1 in 10 mothers battled with it. In our antenatal classes we spoke about it for 10 minutes out of the 6 1.5 hour sessions, we learnt a lot about birth, breastfeeding and how to bath a baby and change their nappies. I went into motherhood thinking that I was the norm, that I was not the 1 in 10 (a very false statistic btw).

The strangest thing happened though which made me question everything I knew about the motherhood experience. At the time my knowledge was quite limited to my own experience, which was tumultuous, and the common air-brushed narrative that it was a 'blessing', I couldnt reconcile my own experience with this narrative. This caused unbelievable strive for me especially because everytime I spoke honestly about what I was going through, those around me all nodded in agreement with a sympathetic, ‘oh my darling, don’t worry its so normal, I went through it, so-and-so went through it with both their kids. Just take the meds, you’ll be fine.’ These words of affirmation not only came as a shock but were more often than not followed by a ‘just enjoy this time, it goes so quickly!’ It left me totally perplexed and feeling way worse, like if it was such a common experience, why did no one tell me or prepare me? 

And this is what led me here, centering the primary caregiver and their need for affirmation, information, acknowledgement and nurture. Although creating content has been the primary outlet for this, holding space for primary caregivers in a face-to-face support group environment is something I love doing. I'm excited to announce this offering here in Auckland for the first time. My hope is that I can do this on an ongoing basis at different community centres around the city.

Please check out my Extras offerings here for more information on this. The inaugural one will be taking place at The Auckland Woman's Centre this October through till Dec, and I cannot wait!

I love creating content in a way that inspires and informs. If you'd like to donate to my book fund, so i can continue to be inspired and inform, that would be much appreciated.